Noise nuisance

If you are being affected by a noise, please read below to determine whether the council can assist you. There are no specific noise levels that are or are not acceptable - the council will look at each case individually to determine whether or not a statutory nuisance exists.

Building sites

There is guidance with regard to building site times, and these times are usually as below:

  • Monday to Friday: 7:30am to 6:00pm
  • Saturday: 7:30am to 1:00pm
  • Sunday: No noisy work at all

There are no limits to the levels of noise of building sites within the above times, although under Health and Safety legislation, there are precautions that have to be taken with regard to the employees on the site for example wearing ear protection. As the noise is only for a short period, this would not be a statutory nuisance.

Delivery noise

These complaints generally would not be considered a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, although officers can look into the matter and speak to the companies involved to try to reduce any impact.

Parties

We would advise that you give all neighbours plenty of warning if you intend to have a party that may cause them some disturbance. If these are one-off events then the council would not want to prevent such occurrences, assuming they were of a reasonable volume and did not continue all night.

However, if you regularly have parties then you are more likely to be causing a statutory noise nuisance and the council could serve notice on you to prevent future disturbances. It is therefore best to be responsible and neighbourly and cause as little disturbance as possible.

Music

There is no time limit when loud music can be played without the possibility of action being taken by the council.

The law states that music must be assessed for statutory nuisance, so if it is loud and clearly audible in another person’s property or garden, then it could be considered a problem at any time of the day. Obviously, the later at night the music can be heard, the more likely your neighbours and council officers are to consider it a nuisance.

House alarms

If it is an alarm on a domestic property and you do not know who the occupier is, try and find out from any neighbours if they know of where the owner may be, or if they are likely to return shortly. Most alarms do not ring for too long before the house occupier returns. 

If it appears that the occupier is not likely to return for some period, for example they may have gone away on holiday, then please contact this department on 01353 665555. Officers will then establish if the property is registered with us and, if so, keyholders can be notified to come and turn it off.

If we do not hold details of the keyholder then an assessment as to the occurrence or otherwise of a statutory noise nuisance must be made. If officers feel a nuisance is being caused then notices will be served and after a specified time period, officers will arrange for the alarm to be deactivated.

This is usually done externally, but if the alarm cannot be deactivated from the outside (and this very occasionally happens), a warrant to enter premises is requested from a Magistrates Court and, if successful, officers will make the necessary arrangements to enter the property to turn off the alarm. All expenses incurred in undertaking this work is recharged to the householder.

It is important that if you have an alarm on your property you notify us of two separate keyholders who can be contacted at any time to deactivate or reset the alarm for you. This could save you money in the long run. 

Bird scarers

The council has produced a leaflet that explains about bird scarers:

Noisy neighbours

Initially we advise you to approach the person causing you the problem. They may not realise you are being affected by their activities. If this does not improve the situation then report the problem using the form below, and an officer will contact you to discuss your complaint.